Walking is not giving up

This weekend I decided I wanted to get in one more long (using that word loosely here) run before the Rock N' Roll Denver Half Marathon this weekend. Being lazy and not wanting to experience the disasterous trying to run the Res (oh right the marathon is going on), that's ok I'll run from Roger's Grove (closed through October)-again (still ran 12 miles), Josh and I set out to do a few loops around the neighborhood.

Now I have not been training for this race.  I honestly haven't looked at the awesome training plan I created for myself in at least two months. Yeah I've been bad. But you know what? Life happens. Stuff comes up, plans change and it's not always possible to get in all your runs. With all of this going on I decided that I wanted to test out run/walking. Now I haven't purposely run/walked a race ever. Ok well I did walk when taking gels in Seattle and mid-race decided to run/walk Nashville (only because of the horrid conditions) but I hate walking during a race. It's always hard to motivate myself to start running again. Plus it's only 13 miles. I know I can run it without stopping, but at what speed this time?

So the test began. I set my Garmin to alarm every 11 minutes. That way I'd run for 11 the first time, walk for one minute then run for ten and so on.  Josh broke off and headed home after the first lap but I continued on.  Here are my stats:

Time: 1 hour 25 minutes    Distance: 9 miles    Avg. Pace: 9:29 min/miles

Pretty impressive pace for taking walk breaks isn't it? Now when I say walk, it's not leisurely it's a fast pace.  This helped me realize that walking isn't giving up and is actually a great option for finishing a race you're not really ready for.  We'll see how it goes this weekend.  If I can maintain the pace I did this weekend I'd be on track to beat my time from last year easily.  Then again, my neighborhood has like no hills.  Here's what the course looks like:

It doesn't really have rolling hills but from mile 2-5 it's a pretty steady incline. Then again from 8 to mile 11 before it heads downhill.  Eek. 

My bottom line for this race: Have fun. Enjoy the sights and don't worry about pace.

Two Years

Two years ago today I was just waking up on my wedding day.  I woke up sick and it was cold and rainy, but the best day of my life.  Illness, weather, none of it could have ruined our day.

I cannot believe how fast the past two years have flown by. It's been an amazing two years and we're ready for whatever the next 50 have to bring. I'm so lucky to have found the love of my life. I love him more every day. We spent the weekend celebrating and enjoying each other after Josh's work trip to England. I'm so glad he was home just in time to celebrate. Tonight we'll dance to our song, At Last by Etta James, just as we did two years ago. :-)

Happy Anniversary Lobster!

Working on It

I keep telling myself today is the day I give the trip updates, etc. but there are just not enough hours in the day lately.  Couple bullets before I get my butt in gear:

-Trip was great. Paris is awesome and super romantic. Would totally go back for a third time.  London eh, kind of like being in America. Didn't dislike it but didn't love it. High Tea was a big highlight.

-Training has gone down the drain. Still doing the Denver Half but it's going to be sloooooooow. That's ok I think I'll be running it for fun with Shanna and her friend from out of state. Ran 12 miles on Sunday...slow but then again I wasn't really trying.  Ankle currently hurting even with insoles.

-Saw awesome concert with Rache, Josh and her friend Amanda. Darius Ruckers and Brad Paisley put on an awesome show! Few tears when the Justin Moore sang a song called "Grandpa."

-Got a promotion at work. Yeay!

-PAID OFF MY STUDENT LOANS!!!!  I can't believe it. Thanks to the sale of the Subaru and Josh's parents sending us a check for trip expenses I am now student loan free! Now we just have Josh's to contend with.

Little teasers for all of the update I need to do. I'm going to try to get them all done before Josh and I celebrate our 2nd anniversary this weekend (super excited for that!).

Potato State Wedding

Wow, I am just way behind on postings all things Jess lately. My schedule has been crazy and I've been sick...yes, again. My immune system is not liking me right now. Which could easily be enhanced by the craziness that was my weekend in Idaho.

Now almost a week and a half ago, just 4 days after getting home from our trip, I was sitting in front of my lady friend, Thalia's apartment at 5:30 am.  We headed to the airport and had awesome timing because the parking area bus was there waiting for us and there was no line at security. I couldn't believe it! I didn't even have time to get my ID and such out before it was my turn. By the time our flight landed I had got three hours of work under my belt and was ready to celebrate Heather's wedding weekend!

Heather was there beaming from ear to ear ready to take us off to get our nails done. Ahhh relaxation...

Poor guy had to deal with the two missing/starting to grow back toenails.  At least I warned him beforehand. After getting our nails done we got lunch, checked into our Bed and Breakfast, headed to the rehearsal, back to change and then back out to the rehearsal dinner.

The happy couple ready to say I do the next day!

With all of the must-do's done it was time to get ready to head out to celebrate Heather's Bacholerette Party! First stop, The Balcony which is Boise's local gay bar...awesome is all I have to say. Oh and cheap. I couldn't believe how cheap the drinks were. We continued on to a few other places, the last of which the boys met up with us.  I finally passed out fell asleep around 5 am. Yep, that means I was up for more than 24 hours straight.

The next day Thalia and I rolled out of bed around 9:30, and tried not to vomit lounged around until it was lunch time. After eating a much needed cheeseburger and sweet potato fries it was time to help get the reception ready. Pretty isn't it?

Wedding time was right around the corner.  Heather (and Kylie) looked beautiful!

They did it!

After the reception it was time to hit the bars again. This time I wasn't quite as out of control, but it was another 4:30 am kind of night. Just 2 hours after going to bed we had to be up to head to the airport. Oh yeah and my voice was almost completely gone.

So that is: 46 hours in Boise, 6 hours of sleep, 1 great weekend! My 26 year old self just cannot pull of weekends like that anymore. I'm just now getting over my cold and hoping that I'll be able to complete a 12 mile run this weekend. The Denver Half is in a few weeks...eek and I'm way way undertrained. I suppose I can run/walk it for fun?

Whirlwind

Man it’s been a whirlwind lately. The past month has flown by. Updates from our trip to come but let’s recap what happened after I got home from Missouri and California.

That evening Josh’s friend Peter and his new girlfriend came over for dinner. Nice to see Peter but after no being home for 10 days all I wanted to do was hang with my boys and veg out on the couch.

Monday it was time to get back to the gym and Tuesday I finally got in another run and tons of laundry while Josh was a golf league. Wednesday we had dinner at our friend’s Ryan and Claire’s house…awesome. I hadn’t seen them in a while and it was nice to relax and enjoy dinner with them out on the patio. Thursday Josh’s dad was in town. We went out to eat at Martini’s Bistro. Of course I had to have some key lime cheesecake.

Friday I had a surprise dinner for my friend Sarah G in Boulder. She was totally surprised which was awesome!

Saturday, another crazy day. I did an 11 miler:

Distance: 11 miles Time: 1:45:36 Avg. Pace: 9:36 min/miles

My legs were a bit on the sore side from that one. Stretch, snack and shower later we were headed to Denver to celebrate Claire’s b-day. We had dinner at Lime which was delicious. Then there was a little of this...

and a little of that.

Great time…not so great hangover the next day.

By Sunday I was crashing hard but started getting ready for our trip. The next few days leading up to our trip were no picnic either. I think this is the first time in a long time that I’ve had something to do every day and night for several weeks in a row. Thank goodness for vacation!